Columbia County Fire Rescue Celebrates Fire Safety Day By Giving Away Smoke

The American Red Cross teamed up with the New Haven Fire Department to make sure residents are prepared in case of a fire.

With a grant from Walmart the firefighters bought the smoke alarms and gave them out to celebrate Fire Safety Day.

Smoke detectors installed by the Red Cross saved a resident from a trailer fire on Saturday morning.

Today, the American Red Cross was asked to assist a client who was displaced by a home fire in the 7500 Block of I-27. People could also tour the Fire Safety House, learn about emergency planning, and creating fire escape routes. “We like to go over ways to get out of the home especially if they have children or grand children”.

“We also test their alarms if they have them in the home”, said Etter.

Kath Mayne, Disaster Program Manager, said their local Red Cross chapter responds to about 30 house fires a month in the 29 counties they serve.

Fire experts agree that people may have as little as two minutes to escape a burning home before it’s too late to get out. As part of the campaign the Red Cross is joining fire departments and community groups nationwide to install smoke alarms in communities with high numbers of fires. The goal is to reduce the number of house fire deaths and injuries by 25 percent in the next five years. Crews were called out to the home near Kolb and Valencia shortly after 8 a.m. and found smoke coming out of the attic and roof vents.

The NFPA reports that a working smoke alarm doubles your chance of surviving a home fire. “Sometimes they’re old but still working, so what we are trying to do is replace the older ones or the non-working ones”.